Whittier College graduates taking on tough times

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Alexandra Davis, 23, right, and Patricia Dewey, 24, both of Houston Tx., are all smiles after receiving their diplomas during the 2009 COmmencement at Whittier College in Whittier on Friday, May 22, 2009.

WHITTIER – Commencement speakers at Whittier College’s 106th graduation ceremony Friday made no bones about the world that awaits the Class of 2009.

It’s an “especially polluted” world, said featured speaker Marian Wright Edelman, founder/president of the Children’s Defense Fund – a world where most would rather get than give, would rather hoard than share with others.

“I think we’ve lost our sense of what’s important as people,” she said.

Al Young, California’s poet laureate emeritus, told graduates that for the first time, their generation isn’t expected to live as well as their parents or grandparents.

But both implored the youngsters to be the instruments of change at the 9 a.m. commencement ceremony in the college’s Memorial Stadium, where about 370 Whittier College graduates received bachelor’s and master’s degrees Friday.

“I’m so grateful for my childhood legacy of service,” said Wright, a leading advocate for children and the disadvantaged in the United States.

“As you leave, you should be asking not how much you can get, but how much you can do without and share,” Wright said.

“You add a new consciousness to the world,” said Young, 69, who also recited his “Notes On The Future Of Love” poem at the ceremony. “So I trust you totally to save us, please.”

Whittier College President Sharon Herzberger awarded both Young and Wright honorary doctorates of humane letters.

Graduate Martina Miles, who majored in English and gender studies, likened her fellow graduates to authors, ready to pen the stories of their lives with tools and skills learned at the private liberal arts college.

“This is an incredible privilege,” Miles said. “We now owe it to each other to craft ourselves in the noble goals of this institution.

“I hope we all live up to this responsibility,” Miles said, “and that our actions reward Whittier as Whittier has rewarded our actions.”